Zionist Conference in New York Asks Palestine Jewish Commonwealth, Jewish Army

February 16, 1942

NEW YORK (Feb. 15)

More than 400 representatives of districts and groups of the Zionist Organization of America in the Metropolitan area of Greater New York meeting at the Hotel Astor unanimously approved a resolution calling for the mobilization of “the manpower of the Jewish population of the country to secure the establishment of Palestine as a Jewish Commonwealth after the war.” Another resolution adopted called upon the Government of the United States “to use its good offices in conformity with the spirit and traditions of this country to help secure for the Jews of Palestine the right to organize a Jewish fighting force under the British or Allied Command.”

A warning that “the Near East is still inadequately manned, its peril imminent” was sounded at the session by Emanuel Neumann, in an address on the war situation in Palestine. Referring to the reported request to send an AEF to the Middle East, Neumann stated: “If American crops are to be sent to the Near East across 10,000 miles of ocean, we have the right to inquire whether full use is being made of all other available manpower and resources in that part of the world.” “Can we afford to neglect or to turn down the offer of increased military aid on the part of Jews in Palestine?” Neumann asked. Judge Louis E. Levinthal, ZOA president, also addressed the meeting.